Technology, balanced budgets top goals in county planning session

Thursday

Oct 11, 2012 at 3:15 PM

By Dennis PelhamDaily Telegram Staff Writer

Technology upgrades to make Lenawee County government more efficient and to bring spending in line with revenue were picked as top goals in a strategic planning session Wednesday morning at the Weber Retreat and Conference Center on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters.

The session included a challenge by Sheriff Jack Welsh for county commissioners to take a stand on their priorities for the county’s limited resources. He said some commissioners have been blaming his department for cuts to other departments’ budgets.

“You’re not going to be able to do strategic planning if you don’t set some priorities,” Welsh said. Commissioners should not be asking him which agencies to cut to provide the law enforcement funding he is seeking.

Commissioners and county officials who took part ended the planning session by voting on a list of priorities for the county. A goal of maintaining “a safe level of deputies” was among the top five.

The goal voted as the top priority is upgrading computer systems and technology to help county agencies be more effective and efficient. That goal was followed by bringing spending and revenue into balance.

Other top five goals are seeking new revenue for county government through job creation and other sources, and to set priorities for allocating budgeted funds.

Human services committee chairwoman K.Z. Bolton, D-Adrian, said the committee will tabulate the votes and begin going over strategies for accomplishing the goals. She proposed another planning session next year to review and update the strategic plan.

The goal that might have the largest cost is for developing a public safety complex. Bolton proposed a complex that would include the sheriff’s department, jail, courts and emergency services.

Welsh proposed a new sheriff’s department building. Walls in the current building “are literally crumbling,” he said. “I’m embarrassed to have anyone come into the department.”

Replacing or renovating the 60-year-old building has been debated for years, Welsh said. The result has been minimal maintenance on a building with an uncertain future.

“When are you guys going to make a decision?” Welsh asked.

County administrator Martin Marshall said the sheriff’s department building was left out of a new five-year capital improvement plan because no decision has been made on staying in it or replacing it.

A large complex for multiple agencies is a dream for the distant future, said commissioner Cletus Smith, R-Madison Twp. Doing something soon with the decaying sheriff’s department building is one of the rare issues he and Welsh agree on, said Smith.

“For us to not even have a plan is not serving the people we represent,” Smith said.

“We need to take a look at where we’re going to build a new sheriff’s department,” said Bolton.

The purpose of a strategic plan was set out at the beginning of the session by commissioner Chris Wittenbach, R-Clinton. He said the human services committee reviewed plans by businesses, schools and governments and talked with professional planners in coming up with a structure for a Lenawee County plan.

“We want to make it simple and we want to make it useful,” Wittenbach said.